UAMS Prepares for Feb. 19 Dorm Implosion

Contractors are now stripping the 10-story student dormitory on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) campus down to its concrete shell in preparation for its February demolition to make room for a major hospital expansion.

About 50 pounds of explosives will bring down the 45-year-old dormitory during the implosion, scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 19. The demolition of the dorm, along with tearing down the adjacent Jeff Banks Student Union, is part of the ongoing $255 million UAMS campus expansion.

“Demolishing the dorm allows us to move forward with our expansion so we can deliver the kind of patient care and education programs that Arkansas needs and deserves,” said UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D. “The implosion will be an exciting event, but there is a lot of preparation involved to ensure it is conducted with a minimum of disruption for our patients, students, employees and neighbors.”

Site preparations will continue up until the February implosion date as interior walls are removed to reduce the amount of dust generated. The work started in mid 2005 when it was closed to students. Next, all furnishings and other items were taken out and asbestos was removed.

Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc. is leading the dorm demolition project. The company holds several world records for its work, including demolition of the Seattle Kingdome, the largest structure demolished by explosives. Recently, the company was responsible for imploding the 21-story Baptist Memorial Hospital main tower in Memphis.

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Construction crews prepare the student dorm to be imploded Feb. 19 to make way for a hospital expansion and Psychiatric Research Institute.

UAMS Releases National Study on School Disaster Preparedness

A national study conducted by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) has shown that many public school districts have important deficiencies in their emergency and disaster plans.

The results of “Mass Casualty Events at School: A National Preparedness Survey” will be published in the Jan. 3 issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The object of the study was to document the preparedness of public schools in
the United States for the prevention of and response to a mass casualty event.

The study included a random survey of 3,670 school superintendents throughout the country. According to the Web site of the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, there were about 14,000 public school districts in the
United States in 2004.

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